Hi All

Ive always been interested in off-beat marine vessels and so when I came across some pictures of a new tug called a Ship Docking Module (SDM for short), I decided this would be my next project.

The tug has a length/beam ratio of 9 to 5 and is symmetrical  fore and aft. It has a flat bottom with an extremely shallow draft and utilizes 2 schottel units which are offset from the centre line, one to port and one to starboard. Two small skegs on the centre line complete the underwater profile.

The tug has been designed to push as efficiently sideways as in a fore/aft direction and has a top speed of 6.5 knots SIDEWAYS!

 

Another view from forward:

These pictures courtesy of http://www.seabulktowing.com . Anyone knowing of any other pictures, I would be grateful theres not a lot of information available. There is a very interesting video on the above site as well, showing the tug picking up a container ship on the bow, sideways. As a tugmaster myself I found this particularly fascinating!

 I also managed to dig out the US patent for the hull shape which was useful for the angles of rise of floor etc. Extensive use is made of flat plating, to cut down costs, which will simplify building (I hope)

I have started building, and have so far cut out the flat bottom and the frames. I will be using two Graupner Voith Schneider units, because I have them sitting in my workshop.

Will post pictures if I manage to send this to the site havent been too successful so far with pictures!

Regards – Pierre